EU partnership with G5 Sahel countries

On 23 February 2018, the European Commission is hosting the International High Level Conference on the Sahel in Brussels, with the African Union, the United Nations and the G5 Sahel group of countries, to strengthen international support for the G5 Sahel regions.

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Why is the EU working with Africa's "G5 Sahel countries"?

In 2014, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger set up the
"G5 Sahel" group of countries to foster close cooperation in the region
and tackle the major challenges that these countries face. Since then,
the EU has stepped up cooperation with this African-led initiative to
build a strong partnership on many fronts: from political dialogue, to
development and humanitarian support, to strengthening security and
tackling irregular migration.

The Sahel region faces a number of pressing challenges such as
extreme poverty, frequent food and nutrition crises, conflict, irregular
migration and related crimes such as human trafficking and migrant
smuggling. Violent extremism also poses a serious security challenge to
the region and has potential spill-over effects outside the region,
including Europe.

What are the EU's main areas of support to the G5 Sahel countries?

The EU is now supporting the G5 Sahel countries on 3 main tracks:

Political partnership: The EU is a strong political
partner of the G5 Sahel countries and has set up regular "EU-G5"
dialogues. High Representative Vice-President Federica Mogherini has
held annual meetings with G5 Sahel Foreign Ministers to strengthen
cooperation in areas of shared interest such as security, migration,
counter-terrorism, youth employment, humanitarian response and long-term
development. The EU is also strongly engaged in the Mali peace process.

Development assistance: The EU, together with its Member States, is the biggest provider of development assistance to the region with €8 billion over 2014-2020. It uses all its tools to support development efforts in the region, notably the 'EU Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa' under which €843 million has been committed so far. The EU is also a member and key supporter of the newly formed Alliance for the Sahel,
set up to coordinate existing EU and Member States development
assistance better in the region, in a faster and more interlinked way
than before through joint action.

Security support: The EU supports concrete
regional-led security initiatives. The EU has already provided an
initial €50 million to establish the African led G5 Sahel Joint Force
which aims to improve regional security and fight terrorist groups. The
EU is itself a key security player in the region, with its 3 active
Common Security and Defence Policy missions; EUCAP Sahel Niger, EUCAP Sahel Mali, EU training mission (EUTM) in Mali.

How is the EU involved in the Alliance for the Sahel?

The EU is a member of the Alliance for the Sahel,
launched and signed by the EU, France and Germany in July 2017. It is
currently composed of 9 members: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK,
the EU, UNDP, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the World Bank.
It aims to coordinate and deliver aid quicker and more efficiently in
the region. It will have a particular focus on peripheral, cross border
and fragile zones of the Sahel. Since its launch, the Sahel Alliance has
identified priority six priority areas: (1) youth employment; (2) rural
development, agriculture and food security; (3) climate, notably energy
access, green energy and water; (4) governance; (5) support for return
of basic services throughout the territory, including through
decentralisation; (6) security.

Building on the EU's defence planning capacity and expertise, the EU has set up a one of a kind Coordination Hub to
gather together the many offers of international support to the G5
Joint Force. The Hub is already up and running and enables donors to
channel much needed assistance. In practice it works by matching the
offers of donors to a Recognised List of Needs provided and determined
by the Joint Force.

The Joint Force will be comprised of troops from Mali, Mauritania,
Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad, and will operate in all five countries. To
step up action on security, particularly in border areas in the Sahel
countries which face terrorist and security threats, the G5 Sahel
countries have set up their own regional security force. Concretely, the
G5 Joint Force will have permanent forces deployed along the borders,
able to operate together under a centralised command and communication
structure. This will help tackle the pressing terrorist and security
threat in the region, which is a cross-border issue for all the
countries concerned.

Missions under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)

The EU currently has three CSDP missions in the Sahel:

EUCAP Sahel Niger is a civilian mission supporting
the Nigerien security institutions/forces (Police, Gendarmerie, National
Guard, Armed forces) to reinforce the rule of law and Nigerien
capacities to fight terrorism and organised crime. Since May 2015, its
mandate has been enlarged to a fifth objective related to migration.
Niger has opened a field office in Agadez, with a permanent presence
activated from May 2015.

EUCAP Sahel Mali is a civilian mission providing
expertise in strategic advice and training to the Malian Police,
Gendarmerie and National Guard and the relevant ministries in order to
support reform in the security sector. A renewed mandate extends the
mission until January 2019 and includes a reference to 'the Accord for
Peace & Reconciliation' and instructions to contribute to the
inter-operability and coordination of the internal security forces of
the G5 Sahel countries and the Malian internal security forces.

EUTM Mali is a military training mission providing
advice to the Malian authorities in the restructuring of the Malian
Armed Forces, through the training of battalions (8 between 2013 and
2017) and support for the elaboration of the first Defence Programming
Law ever adopted in Mali. Since July 2017, two security experts – one
military and one civil – have been deployed in each of the five Sahel
countries as part of the regionalisation of the CSPD missions. Their mandate currently runs until May 2018.

How does the EU support the peace process in Mali?

The EU is actively supporting Mali's peace process and is a guarantor
of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement signed in 2015. The EU
supports the United Nations Resolution for targeted sanctions against
those who threaten the Mali peace agreement, and is a major partner of
Mali on security. Two EU CSDP missions, one military (EUTM) and one
civilian (EUCAP Sahel Mali) provide strategic advice and training to
Mali's Armed and Security Forces and relevant ministries in order to
contribute to the restauration of Malian territorial integrity, the
protection of the population, and to support reforms in the security
sector. High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini
visited Mali in June 2017 and announced EU support of €500,000 to the
'Comité de suivi de l'accord pour la paix et la réconciliation au Mali'.

How does the EU support the region with humanitarian assistance?

The European Union is one of the largest providers of humanitarian
aid to the Sahel countries (including Nigeria and Senegal). In 2017, the
European Commission allocated €234 million, including
€90.2 million for food assistance, €56.7 million for nutrition, €22.5
million for health and €11 million for protection. Furthermore, the EU
also supports disaster risk reduction initiatives to enhance emergency
preparedness and response. Thanks to EU support, over 1.9 million
vulnerable people received food assistance in 2017. The EU also
supported the treatment of 455,000 children for malnutrition and in need
of assistance.

EU assistance per G5 Sahel country:

Burkina Faso

European Development Fund: €628 million (2014-2020): support for
good governance, health, food security, agriculture, water, employment,
culture, sustainable energy, public services, including budget support

European Development Fund: €686 million (2014-2020): support for (i)
food security and resilience (ii) supporting the State in delivering
social services (iii) security, governance, and peace consolidation (iv)
road infrastructure for regions at risk of insecurity and conflict.